BOOK REVIEW: Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis

IMPERIAL BEDROOMS by Bret Easton Ellis
(Published 2010, 169 pages)

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It's official: Bret Easton Ellis is one of the most overrated American fiction authors out there. His latest effort, Imperial Bedrooms is a huge disappointment on every level. A sequel to his iconic novel, Less Than Zero, Imperial Bedrooms revisits the original characters, namely Clay, 25 years after the original.

Basically, he spends the first 1/3 of the book criticizing the film adaptation of Less Than Zero (starring Andrew McCarthy, Jami Gertz, RDJ), because it sanitized the scandalous source material for popular consumption. I can buy that--the book was edgy and controversial but the Brat Pack flick was a heavily censored coming-of-age film. After his diatribe against the film adaptation, the author focuses on Clay's debaucherous lifestyle as a screenwriter with a mysterious stalker.


The author assumes that everyone has already read Less Than Zero, as practically none of the characters are given a decent backstory, goals, and motivation (especially Blair). The whole stalker/murder mystery element--which basically takes up the entire book--is laughable and just makes the entire story seem ludicrous.

What I dislike most about Imperial Bedrooms is the use of gratuitous sex scenes and tales of drug usage; I am definitely not a prude, and I must say that these graphic scenes contributed absolutely nothing to the story. It's sad that Ellis had to stoop this low to capture the reader's attention--it's true, I was snoring for the rest of the book. The scenes come out of nowhere with no apparent motivation. For instance, blah blah blah, another TXT from my stalker, blah blah blah Julian's lying about Blair AGAIN blah blah blah I'm fisting two teenage prostitutes in the desert. WTF!

This would all be OK if the author actually offered a world view or some sort of commentary about these behaviors; I was hoping that he would take a moment to ponder WHY all these things (ie. orgies, drug abuse, plastic surgery) are taking place and what does it all say about our society. That would be much more interesting than a bunch of simplistic sentences merely describing the naughty behavior taking place on any given day. And I literally do mean SENTENCES. If he's going to discuss these subjects in a somewhat realistic manner, he might as well go into juicy detail.

It's ironic that a novel that begins as a diatribe against the mainstream Hollywood machine ends with the most ridiculously predictable conclusion possible. The murder mystery (that only really had one OBVIOUS suspect) is solved and there's room left open for a sequel. As always, Ellis' writing is very cinematic and unfortunately, this simplistic screenplay-esque style robs "Imperial Bedrooms" of any depth it potentially had.

If you want to read a complex murder mystery that includes salacious details about the New York and L.A. nightlife, then I recommend Jackie Collins' latest bestseller, Poor Little Bitch Girl. It includes masterful storytelling on her part.